Shears for sheet metal and the like



SHEARS FOR SHEET METAL AND THE LIKE Filed June 6, 1960 INVENTOI? F 2 Joseph Owl-1e 2053:

MTENT AGENT United States Patent f 3,034,214 SHEARS FOR SHEET METAL AND THE LIKE Joseph ()vide Boss,La Nouvelie, Quebec, Canada Filed June 6 196%, Ser. No. 34,034 1 Claim. (Cl. 30-257) wherein the spreading apart of the twocut metal sec,

tions is kept to a minimum because the metal passes over the lower blade and under the upper blade and the amount of offset of the top heel of the lower blade and bottom heel of the upper blade is kept to a minimum and also because there are no lateral obstacles in the path of the cut sheet sections.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of shears of the character described of simple and relatively inexpensive construction and requiring surprisingly little closing pressure for cutting even thick sheet metal.

The foregoing and other important objects of the present invention will become more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring to the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of the shears of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the assembled shears;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-section at the pivot; and

FIGURE 4 is a partial side elevation showing the side opposite to that shown in FIGURE 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings inv which like reference characters indicate like elements throughout, the shears of the invention comprise a top blade 1 having an integral operating handle 2 and depending at an angle from the blade 1. The blade 1 has a slightly curved cutting edge 3 flush with the inside face 4 of blade 1. Cutting edge 3 is aligned with heel face 5 which forms a rearward continuation of the cutting edge and has an increased thickness. The outside lateral face 6 of top blade 1 has a recess 7 defined by front shoulder 8 and back shoulder 9. The bottom of the face of the recess 7 is flat and a through bore 10 is made in the blade at the center of recess 7 and as close as possible to heel face 5.

The shears further comprise a lower blade 11 having a slightly curved cutting edge 12 flush with the inside face 13 of the lower blade 11, said inside face adapted to slide on the inside face4 of the top blade 1. The cutting edge 12' is extended by a heel face 14 aligned with said cutting edge and at the back of the blade 11.

A spindle 15 integral with lower blade 11 projects at right angles from the inside face 13* adjacent the heel face 14 and passes through bore 10 of the top blade 1 for pivotal connection of the two blades. Spindle 15- has an outer end 16 of reduced diameter defining a shoulder 17. The reduced end portion 16 has left hand threads, and is adapted to pass through a hole 18 made in the lower end of flattened portion 19 of handle 20, such that the inner face of flattened portion 1? abuts against shoulder 17 and a nut 241 screwed unto portion 16 will tightly secure the handle 29 to the lower blade 11. The threads on reduced spindle portion 16 being left handed, the nut 21 will not become unscrewed during operation of the shears.

Preferably, a coil spring 22 is disposed around the spindle 15 between the inner face of flattened portion 19 3,34,214 Patented May 15, 1962 of handle 20 and the bottom face of recess 1 of top blade 1 in order to resiliently urge the top blade 1 with its inside face 4 in sliding contact with the inside face of the lower blade 11 for eificient shearing action of the cutting, edges 3' and 12.

The handle 20 is rigidlysecured to the lower'blade 11 such that its flattened portion 19 has its longitudinal axis at substantially right angles to the longitudinal axis of the elongated lower blade 11.

A guide member 23, secured to the handle 20 by means of a screw passing through threaded hole 24, has an offset lug 25 slidably contacting the top of the inside face of the top blade 1 for further guiding the opening and closing movement of the blades. Front shoulder 8 serves as an abutment for limiting the opening movement of the bladesz'the flattened portion 19 of handle 20 abuts against said shoulder 8 in the limit open position of the blades, while lugs 26 and 27 on the handles 20 and 2t abut each other in the closed limit position of the blades.

The shears are operated in conventional manner by alternating opening and closing movement of the handles whereby the coacting cutting edges 3 and 12 cut the sheet and the cut portions of the sheet move respectively under the heel 5 of the top blade 1 and over the heel 14 of the lower blade 11. As the oifset or overlapping between said two heel faces *5 and 14 is a minimum and said heel faces curve away from each other and towards the respective back edge of the associated blades immediately rearwardly of the pivot 15, there is a minimum spreading apart of the two out sheet sections in a vertical plane.

Also there is practically no spreading apart of the cut,

sheet sections in a horizontal plane, because the edges of the cut sheet sections follow respectively the inside faces of the top and lower blades which are in mutual contact and there are no lateral projections on said inside faces in the path of the sheet sections to cause their spreading apart. Thus, the shears of the invention require a minimum of effort to out even relatively thick sheet metal.

Finally, because of the offset position of the handles, the operators hand is entirely above the sheet being out While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the present invention has been illustrated and described, it is understood that various modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

What I claim is: Shears comprising a first blade having a back edge, an outside face, an inside face and a slightly curved cutting edge tflush with said inside face, a handle integral with said first blade and in the general plane thereof, a second blade having a back edge, an inside face in sliding contact with the inside face of said first blade, and a slightly curved cutting edge flush with the inside face of said second blade for shearing co-action with the cutting edge of said first blade, a second handle having a part overlying the outside face of said first blade and a pivot member rotatably passing through said first blade and rigidly interconnecting said second blade and said part of said second handle, and constituting the sole connection between said second handle and said second blade, each blade having a heel face rearwardly extending from and generally aligned with the cutting edge of the respective blades, said pivot member disposed adjacent said heel faces, said heel faces being curved away from each other and towards the respective back edge of the associated blade immediately rearwardly of said pivot member, said first blade having a recess made in the outside face thereof and said part of said second handle being in engagement with said recess, said recess defining a front shoulder serving as an abutment for said part of said second handle to define the limit open position of the blades.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Pearson Apr. 21, 1914 Why-te Mar. 10, 1936 Ewart Aug. 1, 1950 Keiser Dec. 8, 1953 Chudner May 14-, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS Italy Feb. 21, 1957 France June 23, 1928 Great Britain Aug. 27, 1952 

